1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a reusable, hand-held carrier for carrying and storing one or two ski boots having boot pins.
2. Background Information
Ski boots are carefully designed for particular types of skiing, such as cross-country skiing, and they can be quite expensive. Most skiers, especially competitive skiers, realize the importance of taking good care of their equipment, including their ski boots. Currently available ski boots include one or more boot pins on the sole of the boot for attaching the boot to ski bindings on a ski. Each boot pin is clasped by a corresponding part on the ski bindings just prior to use. It is important for safety as well as competitive reasons for ski boots to remain carefully attached to the skis while the skis are in use. Each boot pin extends laterally across the boot sole between boot treads. Ski boots are manufactured with the boot pins in place. Even if a boot includes only one boot pin, the pin normally extends across the small gap between boot treads at the front of the boot, close to the tip of the boot. The opposite ends of the boot pin are attached to the two boot treads, which are opposite and substantially parallel to one another at the front of the boot. A boot pin extends generally parallel to, and close to, the boot sole.
The present invention is a carrier for carrying ski boots when they are not being worn. The present boot carrier includes at least one hook element capable of clasping the forward boot pin and supporting the weight of the ski boot. One or two ski boots can be removably attached to the boot carrier of the present invention. The two ski boots hang on the present boot carrier until they are removed. Repeated attachment to the boot carrier does not damage the ski boots or the boot carrier. The boot carrier of the present invention can be used to carry a pair of ski boots from place to place, or the boot carrier can be hung up for transport or storage with the ski boots hanging from it. With the present carrier, the ski boots hang toe to toe and sole to sole, so the pair of boots forms a compact unit that is easier to carry. With this sole to sole hanging conformation, the soles with their boot pins and boot treads are adjacent and therefore more protected. This sole to sole conformation also helps prevent the wet, icy boot soles from contacting the skier and his/her dry clothes after skiing.
Once the user removes the ski boots from the boot carrier to put them on, the boot carrier can alternatively be used for supporting the skier's street boots or shoes, preferably by hanging each one by a loop extending from the upper part of the street shoe, usually at the ankle grazing part of the shoe upper. The present boot carrier can then be hung up with the street shoes attached until the skier returns from skiing and removes and changes back into the street shoes, hanging the wet ski boots back on the boot carrier.